Scholars explain Nwm)
in Prov 8,30 as
nursling, advisor, or architect. Analysis of Prov 8,22-31 shows that Wisdoms
autobiography contains exclusively "life cycle" terms relating to gestation,
birth, and maturation. Accordingly, the only contextually valid meaning of
Nwm) is
"nursling". Difficulties perceived in this interpretation are contrived and of
no substance. The interpretation defended here is proven decisively by the previously
unnoticed existence of "transitive association" indicating a bonded conceptual
pairing between Nwm) and My(#(#. Although "nursling" is the only valid primary meaning
of Nwm) in this context, it is slightly possible that other interpretations are
legitimate secondary meanings, on the level of intentional wordplays and double entendres.

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Before she labored (lyxt) she was
delivered;
before her pangs came she bore a son.
Can a land pass through travail (lxwyh) in a single day?
Or is a nation born all at once?
Yet Zion travailed (hlx) and at once bore her children!
Shall I who bring on labor not bring about birth?
Shall I who cause birth shut the womb?
That you may suck from her breast consolation to the full,
That you may draw from her teat glory to your delight
You shall be carried (w)#&nt dc l) on shoulders
and dandled (w(#(#t) upon knees.
As a mother comforts her son

Crucial for understanding Nwm) is Isa 66,12 w(#(#t Mykrb l(w w)#nt dc l( where "dandled upon the knees" is juxtaposed to "carried on the
shoulder". This later activity is identical to being carried in the bosom. This is
precisely what a child does in the arms of his or her nurse, Nwm), as we find in:

Num 11,12:

"carry him [wh)#] in your
bosom like the nurse [Nmw)]
carries the suckling";

Isa 49,22b-23a:

"they will bring your sons in the bosom and your daughters will be carried [hn)#nt] on the shoulder"; and kings
will be your nurses [Kynm)]
and their princesses your wet-nurses";

The expressions h)#nt dc l( and hnm)t dc l( are synonymous and interchangeable.
These verses form a "long distance" or "transitive association (a//b; b//c;
a//c)" between Nwm) and
(w#(#, precisely the
combination we find in Prov 8,30, where we find the two terms juxtaposed in the same
verse, My(#(# hyh)w // Nwm) wlc) hyh)w. We are no longer dealing with
an isolated word with several possible meanings but with a conceptual pair where the
second term restricts the semantic possibilities of the first 15. It is not inconceivable that Nwm)//(w#(# is actually a rare word pair, appearing once in
parallelism and once in corresponding parts of identical, synonymous phrases. This bonded
association eliminates all possibility of interpreting Nwm) as advisor, artisan, or anything outside the realm of
child raising. Discovery of this pair permits us to say conclusively that Nwm) in Prov 8,30 means "nursling".